"Viennese" Pastries?

[zilla369]

Okay, so i had a meeting yesterday with a client that's in charge of the "Great Expectations" series function here in Louisville in January. If you listen to NPR, you may have heard of this organization. Their goal is to scour the country for talented young classical musicians and give them some musical exposure.

This event will be a chamber music recital, all by the composer Schubert. So the guy got the idea that he'd like to have us cater the event by serving "Viennese pastries". He didn't have a really specific idea of what exactly constitutes a Viennese pastry, but he'd like miniature versions so the guests can sample three or four different kinds.

So help me out, folks. I'd love to hear your suggestions. Keep in mind that about two thirds of the crowd will be made up of high school music students. Beverages are non-alcoholic (water and coffee, no sodas).

Also, bear in mind that i am not formally trained as a pastry chef, so - although i have some skills - it can't be anything too, too elaborate. Party size is about 35 people and i need three or four different miniatures, so a total of around 100-120 pieces. The client did throw the word "napoleon" out there.

[Swisskaese]

You can make the following:

smaller version of Apple Strudel

Vanilla Kipferl (Hazelnut or Almond crescent cookies)

Sacher Torte (cut into small pieces)

Mini fruit tarts with pastry cream

Mini Linzer Torte

Creme Schnitten

[rickster]

There's a book called Kaffeehaus by Rick Rodgers which has a ton of Viennese recipes. My recollection is that there is a section on Viennese cakes called "slices" which would seem ideal to be portioned for this sort of event.

[Moopheus]

Also good is The Viennese Pastry Cookbook by Lilly Joss Reich. Very traditional, with a section on "small pastries" that might suit the occasion.

[zilla369]

Thanks for the suggestions, everybody. I've decided to go with:

Individual Linzer tortes with raspberry preserves

Individual Apple Strudel

Caramel Mousse Napoleons with caramel sauce and fresh berries

and, even though not a pastry, chocolate truffles with treble clefs and eighth notes piped onto the tops, 'cause everybody loves chocolate truffles.

If they turn out good i'll try to get some pictures. The event is this Saturday.

[PastryBoy]

If they turn out good i'll try to get some pictures.  The event is this Saturday.

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good luck! i'm sure everything will be a hit. can't wait for your pictures!

[Andrew Fenton]

Hey, in Denmark don't they call danishes "Viennese pastries"? Not that you'd want to serve cheese danishes at this event; just asking...

[zilla369]

Hey, in Denmark don't they call danishes "Viennese pastries"?  Not that you'd want to serve cheese danishes at this event; just asking...

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Funny you should mention that...because the boss, ever cost-conscious, and knowing this is a very slow week for us, tried to encourage me to find something pre-made from Sysco to serve, since it's "just high school kids" (he was also convinced the client would never go for the price we calculated for the menu i posted above).

Dutifully, i checked with the Sysco rep. "Sure," he said. "We've got something like that, from Pepperidge Farm." Click to see "StreuDelights Breakfast Bakethroughs"

Nope. Not gonna happen. No way am i serving bear claws and trying to pass them off as Viennese pastry. I'd be scared Schubert would climb out of his grave and clonk me over the head with a harpsichord.

Happily, it all worked out as the client signed off on my menu without a quibble, even bumped it up another five servings.

[zilla369]

Pictures!

Caramel Mousse Napoleons

Linzertorte

Truffles

Der buffet

Thanks again, everybody, for your suggestions!

[Wendy DeBord]

Cool Zilla!! Nice work.

[KatieLoeb]

Oooooh Zilla! Nicely done! The cafe at Hotel Sacher itself would be proud to serve any of your lovely creations!

Those Caramel Mousse Napoleons are killing me...:drool:

[ruthcooks]

What lucky kids! Hope they appreciated all your work.

[Susan G]

Beautiful work!! Just gorgeous!

Doesn't it seem patently unfair to argue for inferior food on the basis that, "they're just high school kids"?

As if one doesn't develop a palate until one is finished with college-catered-pap.

[zilla369]

Thanks for the kudos. Yes, everyone was appropriately appreciative. I gave out a lot of business cards.

The real shame is...it was way too labor intensive. I actually punched out and did a lot of it off the clock, because we were having a slow week and we were all told to try and hold our hours to 30 or less. But there i was, in the middle of it, and i wanted to finish, but i also didn't want to get in trouble when payroll rolled around. The boss was out of town on a well-deserved vacation. But, i felt like i was learning something valuable for the future, so i donated about, oh, 6 hours of my own time. In the end, i think it was worth it. I'll bet i could duplicate the project in half the time if asked to do it again. The price was about $400 for the whole job. Ingredients were fairly cheap, and most of them were already on hand. As many of you know, those edible flowers cost about $17 for 50 blossoms. That was probably the most expensive thing besides the chocolate for the truffles. But my hours, had i been paid for them all, would have made the project only marginally profitable.

Every day's a lesson. Right?

[Mabelline]

That looks just gorgeous. I am glad for you that you came out happy from the experience.

[chefpeon]

But, i felt like i was learning something valuable for the future, so i donated about, oh, 6 hours of my own time.

Just don't make that a habit. And MAKE SURE your exec KNOWS you spent 6 hours off the clock. Otherwise he/she is going to think you cranked it out efficiently within your clock hours and that may set you up for a future headache. I used to do that a lot because I was more concerned with the quality of my project than anything else, so I'd put in countless off-the-clock hours. Then when I got burned out and decided I needed to get paid for every minute I put in, I looked like a total jerk, when all of a sudden, to them, I got "demanding".

A lot of people, even execs, don't quite realize what kind of time can go into some pastry projects. And they won't "realize" until they see it in actual paid hours. If you do stuff off the clock, you aren't doing them any favors, and you're certainly not doing yourself any favors.

I speak from experience! Don't set yourself up.

When someone asks me to do something that I know is time consuming, I'm very upfront. I say,

"I'll be glad to do that, but know that this will take at least "X" amount of hours.....perhaps you might like to think of something that may be less labor intensive?"

I love doing labor intensive stuff....to me, it's fun. But I'm not doing it for free anymore. Can't afford it.

I'm not lecturing.......gosh no.....just givin' you a "heads up" is all.

Great job on your pastries, by the way!

[zilla369]

Anne, i feel you totally. One problem was, though....i frankly had no idea how long it was gonna take me. And once i got into it, i ran into a lot of problems i didn't anticipate. That's not management's fault; it's a function of my inexperience. Thankfully, management knows my work ethic and asked me if i worked off the clock, and i replied truthfully. And they were very complimentary, but they said "it's great you learned something, and thanks for learning 'off the clock', but we really want you to be paid for any time you spend working for us." However, they would have preferred that i come up with something that pleased the client while still being less labor-intensive.

Upside is....they gave me a $2 an hour raise this week. Not because i asked, but because they think i'm doing a great job. How often does that happen?

So, i'm happy. Happy, happy, happy.

[chefpeon]

Upside is....they gave me a $2 an hour raise this week.

That's a huge raise! Congrats! Dedication DOES have it's rewards sometimes!

Regarding not knowing how long it will take you to do a new project is something I deal with all the time. I hardly ever get asked to to the same thing twice, so it's always a major guesstimate on my part. One thing I've learned is, it always seems to take me longer than I think it will take, so I make my guess and then add a couple more hours. Sometimes I come out ok.....sometimes not....

[zilla369]

Always takes me longer, too. Not because i'm lazy or inefficient, but because i'm something of a perfectionist (although not a complete perfectionist, as you can see from the photos).

It's a constant challenge to balance your own exacting standards against profitability/possible future business/pleasing the client, isn't it?

[chefpeon]

It's a constant challenge to balance your own exacting standards against profitability/possible future business/pleasing the client, isn't it?

Boy, you said it! The perfectionist thing.....that's my "problem" too. I always feel a little sad when I feel I have to "rush" a job and can't obsess with it more and add a zillion more finishing touches to it!! I have to say to myself, "Anne, step AWAY from the pastries!"

[Wendy DeBord]

I think Annie gave you some very good advice. I think we all have gone thru that same thing. Unless it's something you do repetitively you are just guessing about the time needed. No matter how experienced you are, your still going to run into unexpected obstacles and time warps. There's so much that can happen that you can't plan for. You can't take responsibility for the amount of time it takes you unless your really screwing up.

You hit the nail on the head Zilla, "It's a constant challenge to balance your own exacting standards against profitability/possible future business/pleasing the client, isn't it?"!!!!! OH YES!

Congrat's on the raise, that's a very very good raise!

It's really hard for the hot side to understand how long it takes to make pastries, in fact that's the problem with the whole pastry industry: time + ingredients = price...........and there's so little room for profit in that equation. It's sooooo much more time consuming then tasks the hot side does. It's comparing apples to oranges and at times both sides will find that frustrating. As long as your not screwing off, you should be paid for your work no matter how long it takes. Annie is dead on right that you don't do your owners a favor if they don't know the brutal facts.